Seven years of sobriety hasn’t altered Ace Frehley’s fundamental weirdness, or his unique approach to playing rock’n’roll.
When Kiss first made it big in 1975, the guitarist joked that he was from a planet named Jendell. Four decades later, on the archly titled Space Invader, he’s still looking to the skies for inspiration, singing about ‘moving through space and time’ on the cosmic rock song Inside The Vortex.
And his music still has the raw edge and offbeat sensibility that he brought to early Kiss and the best of his subsequent work. With cover artwork by Ken Kelly, illustrator on Kiss classics Destroyer and Love Gun, Frehley’s new album might just be the best he’s made since 1978, when solo records by the four original members of Kiss were released simultaneously, and his sold the most.
Space Invader has brilliant heavy rock tunes. The title track is quintessential Frehley; Toys reminiscent of Aerosmith circa Rocks. And on two other space odysseys – Past The Milky Way and the seven-minute instrumental Starship – Ace travels to places that Kiss could never reach. Far out.
